Naked, I stand staring at myself in the mirror, and the shocking awareness hits me that I haven’t seen my feet in over a month. As much as I enjoyed my pregnancy thus far, right now, I feel as swollen as my Pilates ball. Fenriz says that I look radiant and glowing, but all I see is a puffy face, exhausted eyes, and pale skin. Gods, can’t I give birth already? I throw on my cotton nightdress and waddle over to my bed with the intention of calling it a day, but just then, Fenriz walks into our bedroom, and the look on his face tells me that I can forget about a peaceful slumber. “Is everything okay?” I ask, sitting up in bed and gesturing for him to join me. He breathes out a long sigh, then falls down on the bed next to me with a grunt. “No, we might have a war heading our way,” he says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Someone has sent a shapeshifter into the estate, and after Andreas and I spent the afternoon searching for more, we discovered at least 20 of them in the pack.” “W

I sink my claws into its flesh and drag them all the way down, watching the black blood slip through my fingers. The last few days after the Alpha meeting has been nothing but a continuous torture session for me; and since these fucks won’t talk, I’ll enjoy their misery. Their groans and screams of pain have been my lullaby, but I don’t let them die easily, not for what they’ve done.Twenty of my best soldiers have been devoured, and these things took their place, twenty lives lost, and I was none the wiser. How many more people will die under my watch? What makes this so much worse is that the one I am currently torturing is the man I trusted with Umiko’s life.“Fenriz, enough,” Andreas pulls my back by my shoulder. “This solves nothing.”I shrug him off and punch through the Marcus shapeshifter’s solar plexus, pulling out his heart and crushing it in my grip. “It helps me get rid of my frustration at being an inept Alpha,” I say, ripping the body in two.Andreas sighs but says nothi

“Sleep, my queen,” I whisper, caressing Umiko’s hair and watching as she falls asleep in record time. She’s exhausted and has been through a lot these past few hours, so she can do with the rest.When I open the door, I see Yui waiting with an anxious expression on her face, and I walk over to her. “She’s sleeping, but you can go in so long and wait until she wakes up. I’m sure she wants you there.” I say, catching the smile and tears in the eyes of Umiko’s closest friend.She nods, then slips in behind me. I station four men outside our room, four men I had thoroughly checked for any sign of them being a traitor or the like, then I walk to my office where Andreas and Freyja are stationed. After the death of the little hellion, I haven’t been able to grieve or make sense of what happened because Umiko’s water broke. But I am ready for vengeance, even more so now that Arkyn has been born.As soon as I open the office door, a blonde bullet is at my side and crushes my ribs in an embrac

A knock on the bedroom door gets my attention while I’m burping Arkyn, and when I look up, it’s straight into Freyja’s green eyes. She hasn’t left her bedroom for over two weeks and refused to see anyone, even Andreas, so the fact that she’s here leaves me surprised.“Freyja, love,” I murmur and beckon her over to sit next to me on the bed after I’ve put Arkyn back in his crib. She sighs, then walks over and sits in the space I’ve gestured, but when she eventually looks into my eyes, I see a broken woman.One I can relate to.“I was born today twenty-six years ago,” she whispers, then looks down again, and tears fall into her open palms. “Frigga and I always said that one day when we escape out of the hole, we would shift and run for every birthday that follows to signify our freedom, but now… now I’m alone and without the person I loved more than myself.”Her shoulders don’t even shake as she silently cries, but I can tell from her racing heart and melancholic scent that no matter ho

I knew something was off as soon as I smelled a different scent, but I didn’t expect to see Umiko wrapped up in the arms of another man.“Someone better explain to me what the fuck is going on before I start breaking necks,” I groan as I get to my feet, still completely out of it and feeling woozy. Umiko runs over to me and places my arm over her shoulder. “I’m not… going to ask again.”The anxiety is thick in her scent when she peers up at me, but then she looks over to the man standing next to what I can only assume is Kaen’s dead body. She sighs, then smiles at the man. It’s only when I look up at him that I notice that he looks suspiciously like Kaen himself.“His name is Asahi-”“I don’t give a fuck what his name is, Umiko. I want to know why he’s here and what the fuck happened while I was out.” I grumble, then look back at the man…then he bows.“Apologies if I have offended you, Alpha Fenriz. Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Kaen Asahi, and Umiko is my youngest sister,”